Hammering out your purpose.

Listen along here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/29e67075/hammering-out-...

Stories are powerful. Especially simple ones.

And really, life is meant to be simple too.

We are talking about purpose.

Warning, Will Robinson - this appears long, but I want to equip you with an overview of just how powerful and life-giving is your purpose!

Consider a hammer.  

Designed to hit nails, that’s what it was created to do.  

Now imagine that the hammer never gets used.  

It just sits in the toolbox.  The hammer doesn’t care. 

      But now imagine that same hammer with a soul, a self-consciousness.  Days and days go by with him remaining in the toolbox.  He feels funny inside, but he’s not sure exactly why.  Something is missing, but he doesn’t know what it is.

      Then one day someone pulls him out of the toolbox and uses him to break some branches for the fireplace.  The hammer is exhilarated.  Being held, being wielded, hitting the branches—the hammer loves it.  At the end of the day, though, he is still unfulfilled.  Hitting the branches was fun, but it wasn’t enough.  Something is still missing.

        In the days that follow, he’s used often.  He reshapes a hubcap, blasts through some sheet rock, knocks a table leg back into place.  Still, he’s left unfulfilled.  So he longs for more action.  He wants to be used as much as possible to knock things around, to break things, to blast things, to dent things.  He figures that he just hasn’t had enough of these events to satisfy him.  More of the same, he believes, is the solution to his lack of fulfillment. 

        Then one day someone uses him on a nail.  Suddenly, the lights come on in his hammer soul.  He now understands what he was truly designed for.  He was meant to hit nails.  All the other things he hit pale in comparison.  Now he knows what his hammer soul was searching for all along. . . purpose 

 

Purpose:   The intentional design of God for our lives,

drawing on all of who we are to love and serve him...

~>for it is God who works in you 

to will and to act in order to 

fulfill his good purpose.1

Maybe you are the hammer ready for use, to hit a nail and see how it feels to do what you are meant to do!  You may have taken the time to think of what is your very unique God-given purpose, but then again, daily life distracts from such powerful thinking, so let us continue our journey.

Come with me as we turn our eyes heavenward and ask for God's mind on all of this.

Heavenly Father,

There is the person You formed us to be while in our mother’s womb.  To our design, you added temperament, personality, and natural giftings.  All the while, You knew the way we would take while choosing education, vocation and perhaps a life’s mate ~ navigating life’s twists and turns, hardships and hurts.

God, here is what I understand and believe:

~>I was created by You in Your image.  Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.2  

~>You formed me.  You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.3  

~>I was made for relationship with You! As John explained: "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are."4 

~>I am your masterpiece!  Paul wrote: For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.5  

AND THEN ~>You waste nothing.  All that has happened in my life, either good or bad,

wonderful or woeful, if I give it to You, and seek You for wholeness, You will use it for a purpose to honor You and to help another along his way.  

All things work together for me because I love you and am called according to your purpose. Yes and amen!6 

So, let's take a look at who you are, how you are uniquely gifted; print this out if you can, grab a pencil and thank God for the life he has given you.

Discerning God’s Unique Purpose for You!  

Created in God’s image, created to love …                    

yes, you are purposed to love, purposed to serve … Mark 12.30-31

      

Vocation/past jobs 

various roles/responsibilities you fill: 

Education:      

 

What things do you do well?   (Not sure? What do others say you do well?)  

 

What do you enjoy doing?      What do you dream of doing?

 

 

What was your child’s play? What did you love doing/playing that came naturally?

 

 

Talent(s) Learned:

 

What battles have you fought/storms have you weathered?  

Think of Joseph: Genesis 37-50

 

Defining Moments:      

 

Disciplines practiced: what positive things do you do regularly?

 

 

Ongoing challenges - perhaps you need a job, are managing anxiety or depression, have a very sick loved one, a mate who is far from God, or are facing a court date...

 

 

Spiritual Gift(s) ~ do you know yours? Paul includes teaching, evangelism, administration, encouragement, faith... found in Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; and 1 Corinthians 12:28. 

 

 

Print this out. Consider. Evaluate. Take a look at who you are on paper.

Determine to bless God by using your hammer as it was meant to be used!!

As I look at all of this in my life, I am amazed at what God has done in my life. Listen: TERRIAN, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijm46OEP0zQ&list=RDijm46OEP0zQ&a... 

Seriously - like, how good is God?!

Christine - PastorWoman.net

purpose, no. 3

      

1 - Philippians 2.13

2 - Genesis 1.26-27

3 - Psalm 139.13

4 - 1 John 3.1

5 - Ephesians 2.10

6 - Romans 8.28 personalized